Piano music-desk.



A. A. PUNSIGLIONB & A. D. ANDERSON.

PIANO MUSIC DESK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 16, 1913.

1,090,343, Patented Mar.17,1914.

GL AAPONSIGLIONE AUA/vuERso/v. wvflmeooeo UNITED STATES ATTILIO A. PONSIGLIONE,

NEW

or NEW YORK,

ANID ANTON D. ANDERSON, OF HARRISON, YORK.

PIANO MUSIC-DESK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1'7, 1914.

Application filed July 16, 1913. Serial No. 779,337.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ATTILio A. PoNsIG- LIONE and AN'roN D. ANDERSON, a subject of the King of Italy and a citizen of the United States, respectively, residing at New York city and Harrison, in the counties of New York and lVestchester, respectively, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Piano MusicI)esks, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a piano music desk and more particularly to devices of that general character employed for automatically moving the music desk of the piano case to its open position when the fall board for the keys is opened, thereby disposing said desk at the proper inclination to support the music and also permitting of the egress of the sound waves from the interior of the instrument.

The invention has for its principal object to provide a device whereby the above purpose is accomplished which may be easily and quickly applied to pianos of the ordi nary construction, is capable of manufacture at small cost and extremely durable and reliable in practical use.

The invention has for a ject the provision of a lever termediate of its rectly to the shelf board of the piano case, said lever having rounded or convex bearing surfaces whereby the friction is reduced to a minimum and being so constructed as to effectively prevent its displacement and insure its movement in only one direction.

The present invention further consists in a lever for the above purpose having central spaced positions provided with openings to loosely receive the attaching screws upon which said lever is adapted for rocking or pivotal movement, said lever being constructed from a single sheet of metal and the spaced portions thereof being integrally connected and terminating in curved extensions constituting the bearing portions of the lever.

IVith the above and other objects in view as will become apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists incertain more specific ob fulcrumed 1nconstruetions, combinations and arrangeends and attachable di- 1 ments of the parts that we shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section through the front portion of a piano case showing our invention in its preferred form applied to board and music desk being shown in full lines in their openpositions and in dotted lines in their closed positions; Fig. 2 is an elevation of the device looking at the rear edge of the shelf board; Fig. 3 is a. section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section taken on theline H of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating a slightly modified form of the invention; and Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 5 designates the front wall of a piano case which includes the usual pivotally mounted music supporting desk, said desk at its lower edge being provided with a forwardly projecting supporting ledge 7. Immediately below the pivotally mounted music desk 6 the shelf 8 is arranged.

9 designates the body section of the fall board which is fulcrumed as at 10 upon the supporting bar 11. This fall board is adapted when the cover is open, to fold backwardly beneath the shelf 8 and upon the board 11. To the forward edge of the body 9 the front section 12 of the fall board is hingedly connected and is adapted to rest, when the board is closed, upon suitable cushions provided upon the key slip 13.

The above described construction of the piano case is quite common in the art but it will be understood that the invention forming the subject matter of the present application is not limited in its utility thereto.

Our improved attachment consists primarily of the lever generally indicated by the numeral 14. This lever in its preferred form is pressed or stamped out of a steel sheet and includes spaced portions 15, which are centrally bowed or bent to provide convex bearing surfaces, and are provided with longitudinally extending grooves 15. From these bearings the portions 15 of the the rear edge of the shelf board, the fall 7 levers are convergently extended and reversely curved, the same being integrally connected at their extremities by the curved ends of the lever 16 and 17 respectively. The spaced portions 15 are centrally provided with elongated openings 18 the longer axes of which extend longitudinally of the arms. Through these openings the attaching screws 19 are disposed, said screws being threaded in the rear edge of the shelf board 8. The heads of the screws do not, however, bind against the arms but are loose enough to permit of a vertical oscillatory movement of the lever. By the provision of the grooves 15, frictional contact of the lever with the heads of the screws 19 is reduced to a minimum, so that the free oscillation of the lever is assured. As clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the end portion 16 of the lever extends above the shelf board 8 and has its extremity reversely curved as at 20 for bearing engagement with the inner face of the music desk 6. The other end 17 of said lever is disposed below the shelf board 8 and also has a reversely curved extremity 21 with which the fall board 9 is adapted to engage when the key cover is moved to its open position, as will be more fully referred to in the following description.

Normally, when the board 9 and hinged section 12 are in their closed positions, the lever 14 is in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. l, the upper curved end 20 thereof being engaged with the inner face of the music desk 6. In opening the cover, the section 12 is first folded upon the face of the fall board 9, the board 9 being then forced backwardly, the same swinging upon the hinge or pivot 10 to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 In this movement of the fall board, the edge of the board 9 engages the lower curved end 21 of the lever 14. and swings the same upon the pivot screws 19 to force the lower end of said lever inwardly and the upper end outwardly. The latter end of the lever bearing against the desk 6 swings the same so as to dispose the said desk at an inclination as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, whereby the music sheets will be properly supported by the ledge 7 and a space provided above and below the desk 6 so that the sound waves will find easy egress from the interior of the piano case. It will be appreciated that as the lever is provided with the spaced portions 15 which are fulcrumed directly upon the shelf board 8, movement of said lever in any other direction than transversely of the piano case is prevented.

In Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, we have illustrated a slightly modified form of our invention wherein the integral spaced portions 15 as above described are dispensed with and in lieu thereof a plate 22 is centrally fixed to the curved or bowed lever. This plate includes the spaced diverging arms 23, upon the extremities of which the laterally offset ears 24 are formed. These ears are curved to provide convex bearing surfaces for engagement with the edge of the shelf board 8 and are each provided with an elongated opening to receive the attaching screws whereby free rocking or osoillating movement of the lever is permitted. In applying the lever to the shelf board 8, the extent of movement of said lever and consequently the opening movement of the desk 6 may be determined and regulated by simply forcing the arms 23 of the fulcrum member apart or toward each other and thereby spacing the curved bearing cars 24: accordingly,the latter adjustment lengthening the distance between the fulcrum and the body of the lever and thereby lessening the extent, of opening movement of the music desk 6 whereas, when the arms of the plate 22 are separated, the lever is disposed nearer to its fulcrum and the music desk will consequently be opened to a greater extent.

In each form of the invention above described, the ends of the lever which engage the music desk and the fall board 9 are curved transversely as clearly shown in Fig. 4, so that only the longitudinal edges of the lever will be frictionally engaged therewith, thus eliminating excessive wear upon the le v-er and the board 9 and desk 6.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction and manner of operation of our invention will be clearly and fully under stood.

The device is easily and quickly arranged in operative relation and as it is attached directly to the rear edge of the shelf board 8 by only two screws and provided with convex bearing surfaces for engagement with said board, it will be appreciated that the resistance offered to the movement of the lever by friction is practically m'Z.

By means of our invention, the music desk 6 is immediately moved to its open position automatically when the fall board is folded and disposed in its open position beneath the shelf board 8. The music desk is pivotally mounted in such manner that it will promptly assume its normal closed position by gravity movement when pressure of the lever 14; against the same is removed by closing the fall board. It will also be appreciated that our invention may be produced at very small manufacturing cost and is extremely durable as well as highly serviceable and reliable in practical use.

\Vhile we have above disclosed what is be lieved to be the present preferred embodr mentof our invention, it is to be understood that the same is nevertheless susceptible of still further modifications in the form, proportions and minor structural details and we therefore reserve the right to resort to all such legitimate changes as may be fairly embodied within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. The combination with a piano ease including a pivoted music desk, a hinged fall board, and a shelf arranged between the board and desk, of a lever centrally provided with spaced curved bearings each having an opening therein, attaching screws extending loosely through said openings and threaded into the shelf board, the upper end of said lever engaging the inner face of the music desk, and the lower end of said lever being adapted for engagement by the fall board when the same is moved to its open position whereby said lever is oscillated and the music desk swung to its open position.

2. The combination with a piano case including a pivoted music desk, a hinged fall board and a shelf board arranged between said music desk and fall board, of a lever centrally provided with spaced convex bearings loosely mounted to oscillate on the rear edge of the shelf board, said lever including reversely curved portions extending in opposite directions from the bearings and adapted to engage at their extremities with the music desk and fall board respectively, whereby, when the fall board is moved to its open position, said lever is oscillated upon the rear edge of the shelf board and caused to exert an outward pressure at its upper end against the music desk to move said desk to its open position.

3. The combination with a piano case including a music desk, a hinged fall board and a shelf board arranged between said cover and music desk, of a lever centrally provided with spaced portions having curved bearing surfaces for engagement with the rear edge of the shelf board, each of said portions being provided with an opening, and attaching screws loosely disposed through said openings and threaded in the rear edge of the shelf board to support the lever for oscillatory movement in one direction, the lower end of said lever being engaged by the fall board when the same is opened to force the upper end of said lever outwardly against the music desk to move the latter to its open position.

4. The combination with a piano case including a music desk, a fall board, and shelf Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the board arranged between the fall board and music desk, of a longitudinally curved lever,

a fulcrum for said lever having bearing portions adjustable toward or from each other, and means for mounting the bearing portions of said fulcrum member upon the rear edge of the shelf board.

5. The combination with a piano case including a music desk, a fall board and shelf board arranged between said fall board and music desk, of a lever, a pair of arms projecting from one side of said lever and adjustable toward and from each other, said arms being provided upon their extremities with curved ears for bearing engagement with the rear edge of the shelf board, each of said ears having an opening therein, attaching screws loosely disposed through said openings and threaded in the shelf board, said lever extending above and below the shelf board whereby when the fall board is opened the same engages the lower end of said lever and forces the upper end thereof outwardly to move the musicdesk to its open position, the adjustment of said arms regulating the extent of movement of said lever.

6. The combination with a piano case including a music desk, fall board and shelf board arranged between the cover and music desk, of a longitudinally curved lever, a plate centrally fixed to said lever and provided with spaced diverging arms terminating in laterally projecting ears, said ears being curved and provided with openings, attaching screws loosely disposed through said openings and threaded in the rear edge of the shelf board, the adjustment of said arms toward or from each other positioning the lever with respect to the attaching screws upon which said lever is fulcrumed for c oscillating movement, the ends of said lever being reversely curved with respect to the body portion thereof, said lever being also of arcuate cross sectional form, the engagement of the lower end of the lever by the fall board when the same is opened projecting the upper end of said lever forwardly to move the music desk to its open position.

In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

ATTILIO A. PousieLioNE. ANTON D. ANDERSON.

Witnesses Prnrno MAROHETTI, HENRY R. MAsooLo.

Commissioner of latents.

Washington, D. 63 

